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96.06. |
Rehabilitation,
modernisation and rationalisation |
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96.06. |
Rehabilitation,
modernisation and rationalisation |
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| Project Context The wider objective of the Tacis INOGATE Programme is to promote the regional integration of the oil and gas system and to facilitate oil and gas transport both within the region and towards the export markets of Europe. The countries which are involved in the INOGATE 96.06 project i.e. Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have been facing very serious problems since the break up of the Soviet Union. At the time of former Soviet Union the gas transmission infrastructures of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were operated in an integrated way, being part of a centralised gas system. The gas provided by Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were transported both via the Central Asia Lines over Kazakhstan to the Caucasus, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus and via the Buchara-Ural Line to Russia. Before the break-up of the Soviet Union in late 1991, there were two natural gas organisations operating on the territory of Turkmenistan: the gas producing organisation Turkmengazprom and the gas transmission pipeline operator Turkmentransgaz. Since the beginning of the year 1996, by presidential decree, there are now four companies dealing with the development of hydrocarbon reserves and construction of oil and gas facilities. These four companies are as follows:
The domestic system of gas transmission pipelines consists of two separated systems, the Western one and the Eastern one. The Western system is the older one, it is the "Middle Asia Centre Line III". It transports associated gas collected from sources on the Caspian coast, suppling various Turkmen towns on its way and delivering the surplus to the Central Asia-Russia system of gas pipelines which move gas from Uzbekistan and Eastern Turkmenistan to Russia. However, since March 1997, the Western transmission system has not fed any more gas into the Central Asia-Russia system. The Western system begins at the Okarem field on the Caspian coast near the border with Iran and has an entire length, excluding loop lines, of 537 km, which may be subdivided as follows:
This Western part is operated by Turkmenneftegaz from the organisational point of view from Ashgabad, and from an operation and maintenance point of view from Nebit-Dag. In addition to the responsibility of the Western transmission lines described, Turkmenneftagaz is also responsible for the domestic supply of the municipalities. The Eastern system of gas transmission pipelines was built from the Shatlyk gas field and has been extended for domestic purposes later westwards and eastwards to supply Tedzhen, Merv, Bairam-Ali, Ashgabat and Benzmein. The other extension of this transmission system constitutes the "Middle Asia Centre Line IV". This corridor runs from Shatlyk north to Khiva, across the desert. It is fed by the Dauletabad, Sovetabad and Shatlyk gas fields at the southern end of the pipeline system. Dauletabad is at the extreme southern end of this 140 km pipeline corridor. Sovetabad is 24 km north of Dauletabad and Shatlyk about 112 km north of Sovetabad. The pure corridor length of the section from Dauletabad to Khiva, regardless of the length of loop or/and parallel lines, is 613 km, may be subdivided as follows:
The entire Eastern corridor in Turkmenistan from Dauletabad to the border with Uzbekistan constitutes about 800 km including multiple parallel pipelines. These Eastern export lines are operated by Turkmengaz from the organisational point of view from Ashgabad, and from the operation and maintenance point of view from Dashovuz. Before the break-up of the Soviet Union, in Uzbekistan the petroleum industry was organised into four organisations as follows:
In 1992, all these organisations were merged into the state-owned oil and gas company Uzbekneftegaz. Beneath the organisation structure of Uzbekneftegaz, there are six divisions at present covering the necessities of gas and oil production and transmission. The tasks of these divisions are as follows:
Uzbekistan has several pipeline corridors. The shortest internal corridor links Gazli and other Uzbek gas fields around Bukhara with Samarkand and Dzhizak. The second eastward corridor is about 1,400 km long and links the Uzbek gas fields around Bukhara with the capitals of three republics, Tashkent in Uzbekistan, Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan and Almaty in Kazakhstan. However the most important corridor runs north-west to Kazakhstan and Russia. The starting points for this system of natural gas transmission pipelines from Central Asia to the Urals and European Russia are the Gazli gas field and the gas fields around Bukhara. The Gazli gas field is located 110 km north-west of Bukhara. Of all major gas fields in Uzbekistan, the Gazli field alone is free from sulphur and only has a very low content of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. All the transmission line corridors are operated by Uztransgaz an enterprise under the organisation of Uzbekneftegaz from the organisational point of view from Tashkent. However the corridor running north-westward is operated and maintained from Urgench. At present both countries trying to disconnect the former joint transport system Mittle Asia Centre line with the intention to become an independent gas supply country. Nevertheless from a technical point of view, coming from an integrated system without national borders, the gas transportation network, presently, is not in the best position to be operated nationally due, sometimes, to the lack of facilities normally necessary where national borders exists (i.e. metering facilities). Due to the economic crisis which followed the former Soviet Union break up, these countries are facing problems of not payment from the gas final users. This caused increasing financial imbalances and a lot of external gas related debts has been accrued. The lack of financial resources is causing, also, difficulties to financially support the maintenance and repair works on the pipelines and associated facilities, bringing the system to a gradual deterioration. Participating Countries The participating countries in the INOGATE 96.06 project are 2 of the Newly Independent States (N.I.S.), namely Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Project Objectives The goal of the above project is to audit the state of the existing gas infrastructures of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, after a careful assessment of data and information collected, provide an investment programme aimed at a modernisation and/or rehabilitation of the audited network in order to meet the future gas requirements. The objectives of the project can be summarised as follows :
Method of Working
Planned Outputs The expected results and output of the project 96.06 for the local gas operating company of each country involved are the following :
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